(o) Phil (o)
by FictionFox'95
Summary: Three Tenno set out in hopes of becoming the best squad to ever come out of the university. Unfortunately, the fourth member on their team can't sneak for spit, kill to save his own life and hardly ever uses his abilities. From taking on impossible missions, wascally wobots, and a psychotic trio of testosterone-filled Grineer, as well as rotten Tenno, they're pretty much screwed.
1. Graduation Day

_3098 D.L. (During Lotus)_

-Class of 98-

Excalibur looked up to see the banner of his class of Tennos. He would have been smiling a lot more if somebody didn't cover the "C" and "L" in class with a black marker. He didn't let that get him down though, after all, he _was_ the first to be accepted at Warframe U. There, you learned everything there is to know about using both gun and sword as one weapon and learned how to control the abilities each individual's warframe gave them.

Excalibur looked down at his helmet, which gleamed under the sunlight and smiled just as brightly at it. He looked forward toward the stage where each Tenno would receive his or her own Lotus insignia, an emblem branded onto the warframe that identifies that Tenno as licensed. Waiting around an hour and a half, Excalibur's smile sunk low as did his self-esteem when he saw... _him_.

A roar of cheering, swoons, and applause erupted as Ash suddenly appeared onstage in a cloud of smoke, his helmet resting under his arm like a football. After posing when a few female Tenno used their codex scanners to get selfies with their crush, he started to wave his helmet slowly to the side and caused the entire class to do a wave with their arms. All, that is, except Excalibur, who simply sat in his chair fuming with his face red in anger. Despite Ash being a total asshole to everyone, Excalibur couldn't help but be painfully jealous. Even with a personality like that, he still got the chicks.

When the crowd finally settled, Ash strutted toward the vice-chancellor of the university. The older woman extended her arm out with her hands open. Ash kneeled down and squinted slightly when she placed her hands on his shoulder and sparks flew whilst the emblem of Lotus became etched onto his armor.

"Congratulations, Ash." the woman said, smiling youthfully despite her age. "Lotus has been looking forward to meeting you and seeing your skill."

"Thanks, Mirage." he replied, "I still have to see your moves. I'm told you put on... quite a show." She gave a mischievous smile and winked at him, she knew what she was capable of.

"Back at you." she gave a small clap and waved him off the stage.

After getting off the stage, Ash sat back down with his overpowered friends and stretched his right arm over Nyx, smiling at her while he did so. She smiled back and looked up onstage at the next student graduating, patient for her turn to go up.

It was finally Excalibur's turn to get his emblem and he had to regain his composer after almost tripping of someone's feet. He looked down to see Nekros glaring up and heard him utter something under his breath. At the moment the third word escaped from his lips, Excalibur felt something tug at his feet and looked down in horror to see the spectral hand of a dead Grineer grasp his ankle. He unsheathed his skana, looked down and thrusted his arm up into the air. As soon as the tip of his blade reached full, outstretched height, a blinding flash of radial light made everyone nearby wince in pain and look away. The spectral Grineer released its grasp and Excalibur took the chance to flip the skana underhand and drive the sword into the Grineer's head, causing it to fade out.

"Watch it, Nekros," Excalibur warned, "That was close."

Nekros hissed a raspy snarl, "Just be thankful that was _all_ that grabbed you."

Excalibur made his way toward the stage once more and when he got there, Mirage looked at him with an eyebrow raised and a shaking head. However, she still had a friendly smile, so he was alright.

"Way to make an entrance, Cal." she said, "still showing people why you have the name."

"Thanks." he chuckled. He kneeled and couldn't fight back a smile as he saw the flickering light of the Lotus emblem being etched into his shoulder.

Once the ceremony had been completed, the head chancellor stepped forward to the hologram transmitter and stepped onto the platform. After standing for a few seconds, a large, holographic version of herself towered above the stage, easily visible to everyone there.

"Good afternoon, Tenno." She began, "As you know, I am your high-chancellor, Saryn. I would just like to take this time to congratulate each and every one of you for surviving what would undoubtedly be the most grueling training of your lives. Vice-chancellor Mirage and I have been watching you all reach the peak of your abilities, and then further. Each of you has successfully become one with your frames. Remember, it is not the armor, but you, that holds the power, the warframe is merely a catalyst for your special talents. Do Lotus proud, and, if no one else, stay loyal to each other."

Once everyone broke regulations and tossed their helmets skyward in triumph, they quickly found out why it was not encouraged. The helmets made a quick descent onto the heads of their owners making them yelp in pain and scatter with their arms in the air, hoping to shield off the terroristic headgear. After seeking refuge under the roof of the café, Excalibur clutched tightly to his helmet as though afraid it may jump up to attack him. His concentration on his helmet became short-lived when he suddenly felt a hard slap on the back.

"Ahh, what the hell?!" he exclaimed, turning around to face his attacker. He breathed a sigh of frustrated relief when he saw it was Volt. He had joined the university a quarter into school and stepped in as his roommate after Loki, who had been acting pretty strange afterwards.

"How's it going, ol' buddy?" he asked, smiling widely as he gave another friendly, yet powerful push that nearly made his friend fall backward.

"Oh, fantastic," Excalibur replied, "considering I've just survived the shortest hailstorm in history." He gave a slight chuckle while rubbing a spot on his head that had a small bump forming. "So," he continued, "when are we going to get our squads? If they land me with Ash, I swear, Saryn has it in for me."

"I actually have read the charts already, our squad is completely douchebag free." Volt gave a sly thumbs up with a childish wink.

"We're in the same squad?!" Excalibur beamed at the notion, "I guess this won't be as bad as I thought." The two of them exchanged a fist bump which quickly died when Excalibur swung his head to the far right behind Volt. "Whoa, look at that, V."

Volt turned around to see a female Tenno reading off the squad placement charts. "Yea, looks like someone without a Y-chromosome, what's the big deal?"

"W-what's the big?-" Excalibur sputtered, caught completely off-guard. "Are you crazy?! Who _is _that, Volt?"

Volt gave a light shrug, "Some girl named Mag, she has a... thing for magnets, hence the name."

"She looks nice. Who's the two other squad members?"

Volt smirked his childish grin again and pointed in Mag's direction. Excalibur's mouth nearly dropped four feet to the ground.

"Y-you... you're joking, right?" he asked.

"Nope, right where you're lookin'." He laughed slightly to himself as Excalibur tried to keep himself steady.

Excalibur couldn't believe the turn of events. He felt maybe this could be a lucky streak. "Tell me Nyx is the last member, please!"

"Not... exactly." Volt shuffled on his feet uneasily, "Some guy named Phil is the fourth member."

Before Excalibur could ask who he was, Volt remained silent and solemnly pointed toward the courtyard. There, a lone Tenno kept looking around for something. Everyone around looked at him like he was insane but he kept whipping his head side to side in search of the missing item. Excalibur groaned and slapped his hand against his face in embarrassment. Volt shrugged again and the two put on their helmets to get ready for departure in their issued Lisets. In the background, Phil's search had finally stopped when his helmet landed square on his head after an unnecessarily lengthy hang time, making his body go stiff and fall backward, knocked out cold.


	2. The Welcome Wagon from Space

A female voice resonated from a few loudspeakers hung from convenient spaces on the ceiling of the main Liset hanger. "Attention all operators, please proceed to your designated Liset and confirm your identity with the Ordis implanted within." Once she had said that, a large mass of eager Tenno poured throughout the hanger in search of their issued Lisets.

Both Excalibur and Volt made their way to their Lisets and were in no rush at all to takeoff immediately, they wanted to try out the kinks of what their ships could do. Before entering his, Excalibur's eyes wandered and fell onto Mag, who was already in her cockpit, looking out beyond the hanger doors through the windshield. He took one last look at her and walked into the Liset.

When inside, he became pretty surprised how small it actually was. The outside looked like a ship. The interior, however, was about the size of an apartment building if it came with all the amenities and an AI that talked formally. He knew why Mag liked the view because as soon as he peered through the windshield, he saw nothing but clear skies.

"He-ey!" Excalibur turned around to see a miniature, holographic version of Volt standing on a center console, smiling brightly with his helmet off. "Well, looks likes nothing's wrong with my Liset. Say something if you hear me."

"What?"

"Eh, close enough, short stuff." Volt's smile grew even bigger to the point where his eyes were almost closed. At first, he was confused when Excalibur turned his attention back to the windshield but later regained his cockiness when he saw what... or _who _he was looking at. "You ain't gonna get far with that one," he started, seeing Mag in Excalibur's direct line of sight, "She probably prefers her men more slender, sophisticated, a long-ranged lothario with the power to create a real... spark." He finished his sentence with a confident pose, a raised eyebrow and cleft in his chin he made by pinching the sides together in the middle.

Excalibur couldn't stop a small chuckle while shaking his head in the nonsense. _Heh, asshole._

_BZZZZZZT! BOOM! _"AAIIIIIIIIEE!" _THWUMP! _The sounds could be heard from the other side of the hanger and it made a whole lot of Tenno turn their heads.

"What the hell?!" Excalibur and Volt exclaimed in unison. They both ran out of their Lisets and stopped at the main doors, looking three ships to the right. There, Phil lay on the ground, different strands of smoke rising from his injured body. His face was blackened from the blast and his hair stood as if someone swapped his shampoo with powerful hair gel.

As the hanger manager ran over to see what was wrong, she gasped, seeing a Liset operator already injured on the first day. Seeing her approach, Phil meekly raised his arm, which shook with strain, before allowing it to collapse on his chest.

"What happened here?!" the manager asked, her voice filled with tiring impatience. _These idiots graduated?_

Phil jumped to his feet, dusting off the explosion residue and patting his hair back down, only to have most of it spring up again. In slight guilt and heavy embarrassment, he smiled as wide as he could, his teeth looking pearly compared to his now darkened skin, and nonchalantly scratched the back of his neck. After a split moment of awkward silence, he decided to break the ice.

"Funny story, Ma'am," he quickly said, "you're gonna laugh. You see, it's not even my-"

His attempt at soothing things over became interrupted as the hanger manager grabbed the back of his armor and drove her knee into his crotch. He was just about to let out a painful cry when her fist made flat contact with his nose. The punch was surprisingly strong because it sent him skidding backwards with his back on the floor, kicking up the explosion residue like dust before he crashed into a nearby supply cart. Tenno that were around stepped back and the men cringed at how painful the knee must have felt. It was the second time he had been knocked out. Least it wasn't by his own helmet.

The hanger manager stepped in front of the craft, making sure not to enter and trigger the defensive shock again. Taking out a small, touchpad checklist, she went over the charts of Lisets and their designated operators. Her finger stopped when she saw Phil's name and the Liset unit he was assigned to.

"Hmm, looks like it _is _his ship." She turned to her assistant, a bulky, large Tenno who wore a helmet that looked like a welding mask. "Are you sure you checked _all_ the Lisets' defense systems, Vauban?"

"Aye, Ma'am," he said with a heavy, deep voice, "I have checked all systems and every Ordis is up to date and ready for travel."

"Hmm... maybe it's the pilot," she looked back to Phil who remained motionless on the ground with a bloody, broken nose, "even I can't stand him, Ugh. Wake him up and reset the defense system on his Liset."

Vauban nodded to confirm and walked straight into the Liset, not worrying that it will electrocute him. A few minutes later, he stepped out once more and made his way toward Phil, who was barely waking up from the ass kicking he just received. Using one, giant arm, Vauban hoisted the Tenno to his feet with no effort at all.

"The Liset should spare you anymore damage now." That being said, Vauban turned and walked away to his commanding officer without uttering another word.

Still staggering a bit, Phil fell backwards after his legs gave up, only to be caught by the most freakishly tall Tenno he had ever seen. He looked nothing like the heavy-armored punching bags around him. In fact, he was as tall as he was skinny. Wearing what looked like a top hat and formal dinner suit, he was the stereotypical visage of every magic act throughout the cosmos.

"Hey there, friend." the stranger said with a pretty suave accent.

Phil just looked at him and tried to be grateful. "Thankth, bauddy." Which was all he could've mustered with a swollen tongue.

"Limbo," the large Tenno tipped what Phil now knew _was_ a metal top hat and took off his helmet, without which, made him seem a normal height now. "Not sure how you get your Liset to attack it's own pilot, but it must be a funny thing to see. Hehe." His face went from smiling to a bit offended when he saw Phil stare blankly at him, no chuckle or reaction at all.

...

_[3 minutes later]_

"O... K..." Limbo started to walk back slowly while Phil kept spacing out, staring blankly ahead with a bit of drool dangling from the side of his lip.

"Attention, all Tenno," the hanger manager's voice came back on the speakers in the same commanding voice, "report to your Lisets and prepare for departure. Good luck and do Lotus proud."

"Wait. What?!" Phil snapped back into reality as he shook his head out of the daze. He slowly turned in fear and faced the looming entrance on his Liset. If he wasn't mistaken, he would have sworn the ship itself was almost glaring in his direction, daring him to board.

"Nope, I choose life." He got up and started walking toward the hanger exit when, from the control tower, he saw the hanger manager scowling down at him. All it took was her raising her fist slowly and cracking her knuckles to make Phil turn back once more. "Yep, life it is." he ran onboard his Liset and the door slowly closed behind him.

In the Liset, he slowly made his way to the cockpit, taking his time to see every detail within. He almost gasped in awe when he finally reached the front, a large windshield that would make a killer flat screen T.V. A loud chiming noise came from one of the center consoles and made Phil nearly jump out of his skin. A holographic image of Volt stood at a quarter of his normal size, smiling as widely though, which looked a bit creepy.

"Hey, Phil!" Volt said with enthusiasm, "Time to fly off onto our first mission!" He let out an excited squeal before clearing his voice to make it masculine again. "You ready for it?"

"Trust me," Phil replied with relief, "what more could space do that this place hasn't already?"

"That's the spirit! Let's fly, bitc-!" The last word Volt had said became interrupted when the hologram suddenly disappeared. The loud, smooth roar of Liset thrusters kicking in filled the building with a sense of power. They were going to leave the life they knew for a whole new life filled with killing, death, and lots of bad guys who would love to see their heads roll. What could possibly go wrong in space?

After minutes of looking for a steering wheel, Phil learned it was an unmanned aircraft and thought that was freaking cool. He began to wonder what it would be like a the Liset made its way out of the hanger and into the air.

_BOOOOOM! BOOOOM!_ Phil looked outside the windshield and saw an entire armada of odd looking ships firing at the Lisets. All around him, he could see different Lisets falling from the sky, could have been hundreds being downed. The Liset thrusters engaged even fiercer as if they were aware of the danger.

Phil watched helplessly as Tenno who didn't like him, and Tenno who liked to tease him fell to the ground in fiery balls of inferno. He looked back and forth from the Lisets and the unusual enemies. His attention was pried away when another loud, chiming noise came on and, instead of Volt, it was just the image of a woman. It only showed from the neck up but there wasn't anything to look at anyway. She wore what Phil assumed was a purple jumpsuit and a strange looking helmet that seemed out of proportion to her face. The only parts of her body he could see clearly was her nose and lips, he wasn't even sure _what _she was.

"Uh..." Phil uttered, "who are you?"

The mysterious woman's voice nearly cracked in emergency, "IT'S THE- ahem- It's the Grineer. Get away with your life if you can!" After that, the hologram disappeared.

Phil could just make out a gap within the chaos and the Liset shot right through it, nearly colliding with a Grineer ship. After feeling his ears almost pop from the pressure, he finally made it out of the atmosphere and into space. He looked out the window and saw different Lisets flying in random directions, he may or may not ever see them again. Breathing heavily, still wondering how he was alive, Phil turned to see the interior of his Liset. Although the craft had just saved him, it seemed more hostile than what he had just escaped and he felt like the walls were ominously closing in...


	3. Face Time With Lotus

After a moment or two, Phil had finally got the courage to explore the Liset. He slowly proceeded toward the lower section of the ship, stopping for a minute just before descending the low ramp. He was just about to go down when a familiar chiming noise sounded from the cockpit. He turned to see who it was. Instead of Volt, he saw the same, oddly suited woman from before.

"Tenno," she said calmly.

Phil just stood with his arms crossed by the ramp, wanting to find out just who she was.

"Tenno..." This time, her tone was more sing-song and sounded a bit weird to listen to. Finally, Phil decided to talk to the masked caller.

"You're on the mic." he said in the most casual voice he could.

"Tenno, I am Lotus, there will be other times to learn more about myself but, I have a mission for you." While saying that, her face remained completely unchanging, which made Phil kind of unnerved about it.

"Uh... stranger danger!" Phil spun around, ready to make a break toward the far side of the Liset. He suddenly stopped when Lotus' voice boomed from the hologram.

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT?!" Lotus shrieked, the face of the hologram was extremely zoomed in and her mouth was formed into a psychotic snarl. Phil's eyes shot open in fear and he quickly put on his helmet to hide the terrified expression on his face. Although he was secure behind the armor plating of his helmet, he could feel the anger seeping in, trying to strangle him. After a moment, he slowly removed the helmet and looked forward in hesitance. Lotus looked a little disgruntled but, she no longer wanted to kill him in his sleep.

"Uh... err..." Phil tried to apologize. Instead he just stood there, waiting to be attacked as he was used to.

Lotus just raised her hand calmly. "It's alright, Tenno." she said in an almost maternal voice, "I know what you are expecting. If you were someone else, you'd have gotten an earful but," she paused as though to choose her words carefully, "You have been through enough to numb you to whatever I may say."

Phil lowered his helmet and looked straight at Lotus, surprised by her... surprising concern. "What do you need _me _for?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

"You are to go to Earth, infiltrate a Grineer base and capture the target."

Phil had a confused look at first. "So, I have to escort him to the Liset after getting him?" he asked.

"No, not at all," Lotus said with a light chuckle.

"Oh ok, you know, at first, I thought-"

"You are to use a module I placed in the palm of your warframe to digitize the target and he will automatically be placed inside the Liset as a prisoner." she tilted her head innocently and gave Phil a nice smile.

"Wait. Won't that be... painful?" he started walking forward, unsure he heard her correctly.

"Of course, ya silly goose!" she giggled childishly before clearing her throat to be serious. "That is," she continued, her expression now returned to normal, "unless you know a painless way to rip every atom from someone's body, then have them travel at the speed of light to a much further destination..." She paused for a moment to take a deep breath, "All the while, being fully conscious and feeling every little tingling sensation."

As she beamed a smile again, Phil stood quiet with a slightly frightened look after taking a precautious step back. _Is she crazy?! _

"No..." she suddenly replied, as though reading his thoughts. Her face zoomed in again until it looked only mere inches from Phil's, "I'm just Lotus." Her smile grew even wider and Phil was certain her eye was twitching behind the headdress.

He took one more step back and stopped when he felt the heel of his boot touch the wall, "Ok, so, where to now?"

~o)(o~

"... no" Excalibur's hologram stood impatiently on the console where Lotus had been before, "Not only is this our _first _mission but, you don't even have a weapon, Phil!"

"Of course I do." Phil reached behind him and pulled out a Bo staff that was leaning on a nearby wall, "I found this on the supply cart I was punched into." He gave the hologram a smile but got nothing in return except for a look of disappointment.

"Do you even know how to use it?" Excalibur asked, without giving Phil the benefit of the doubt.

"Well," Phil started to say, "first time fore everything, right?" He stepped back a little when Excalibur's hologram suddenly vanished. He looked out the window and saw Excalibur's liset fly forward, making an even larger gap between.

"The sooner we get to the planet," Excalibur's voice sounded from the com, "the sooner we can get the mission over with." In truth, he wanted Phil to be gone as soon as possible and to look for Volt and Mag who he still wasn't sure survived the attack on the university.

From the cockpit of his liset, Excalibur stood in front of the windshield, looking out in the direction where he saw the few remaining Tenno fly off to. He just had to endure the dangers of whatever lay on that planet... as well as having Phil for company. It was the thought of the latter that made him shiver the most.


	4. The Little Liset of Horrors

Ordis' voice filled the Liset, "We're approaching the planet Earth now, Operator."

"Thank you, Jeeves." Phil said with a bright smile. He slipped his helmet over his head and lightly tapped the side with his hand, making sure it was on securely.

"Hope they get you, you son of a bi-"

"What, Ordis?" Phil asked, not sure that he heard correctly. Through the helmet, sounds were a lot more muffled.

"I-I, uh, said," Ordis fumbled with the words, thinking of how to cover himself, "It's a forest, try not to get wet. Yep. Good luck, sir.

"Thanks, Ordis," Phil smiled under his helmet, "You know, at first, I thought-" he was cut off when he heard a mechanical clicking noise above him. Jumping quickly to the left, Phil looked up to see a giant, metal safe fall from its original wall restraints onto where he had just stood. "Wow," he breathed heavily, "that could have flattened me like a pancake!" He began to walk to the back of the Liset where a small coffin-like compartment suddenly opened.

"Oh, we wouldn't want that now, would we, Operator?"

Phil looked around questioningly before looking back at the compartment that was just his size. Once he got in there, his life was in Ordis'... circuits, and he didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing.

~(o)~

The Liset's thrusters gave a low humming noise as it began to draw closer and closer to Earth. Nearing the planet's surface, Phil managed to squeeze into the compartment and now lay face down, waiting for something to happen. A few minutes later, he felt the ship begin to slow and he couldn't help but breath heavily in anticipation. Finally, the Liset came to a low hover and what Phil thought was the floor opened up as a trap door mechanism.

"Oh, that's so cool!" Phil could see the top of what seemed to be an old building of sorts. He heard the sound of familiar humming and saw dirt kick up as another Liset lowered in front of the structure. Through whatever vision the trap door opening allowed him, he could see Excalibur fall out from under his Liset and land perfectly on his feet. Phil tried to wiggle his arms and legs in a futile attempt to drop from his Liset.

"Having problems, Operator?" Ordis asked, his voice completely void of concern despite his owner's situation.

"Yea, Odis. I'm a little stuck at the moment." Phil kept struggling to just simply fall out at this point.

"Why didn't you say so, sir?" Phil thought he felt a twinge of sarcasm in Ordis' voice but, brushed it off. "One moment, please."

Phil's eyes slowly widened as the Liset began to inch forward until it was above a metal grate that was right in the middle of the roof. "Ordis..." Phil weakly pleaded, worry filling his head.

Not being swayed the slightest bit, Ordis said with a slight chuckle, "See you at extraction, Operator."

That being said, Phil felt an unnecessarily forceful push against his back that made him yelp in surprise. He was shot straight downward from the compartment and slammed right onto the metal grate. He was just about to struggle to get up when he heard a nerve shattering crack. The grate buckled and fell inside the building under Phil's weight.

_Thwump! _Phil clenched his teeth from the shooting pain of being blasted through the roof of an ancient building by his own ship. A loud, ringing sound lingered in Phil's head. His head pulsed painfully after hitting his head hard against the hard ground. If it wasn't for the helmet, he probably would have been dead.

"Phil... Phil..." the voice kept echoing in his mind. He tried to lift his head and saw a blurry visage coming closer.

Slipping closer toward unconsciousness, Phil raised an arm up and blurted the first thing that came to mind, "Phil's not in at the moment, leave a message at the beep."

"Phi- Wait, what?!" Excalibur leaned to make better sense of what Phil had said. He knelt down and began mercilessly slapping Phil's face from side to side. "Wake up, you moron!" he commanded with impatience.

Phil sprang up, startled, and thrust a fisted arm blindly in the direction of his assailant. _Crack! _Phil looked up too see Excalibur and felt him glaring with a burning rage after being punched in the face.

_I can't just kill him, _Excalibur reasoned to himself while shaking with fury, _that'd send Tenno back to the Dark Ages when we would just blindly ghost each other, and- Oh! What would Lotus say?! I'd get the nagging of a lifetime, Mag will see me as a vengeful monster, and... AND-_

Phil's expression went from afraid to unnerved as he looked up at Excalibur, who now kept looking from side to side and muttered spastically to himself. Taking the advantage, Phil used his arms and legs to crawl backward away from the enraged, delusional Tenno in front of him. He stumbled backward but steadied himself on his feet. Seeing his teammate mumble nonsense to himself, Phil slowly reached an arm out to touch his shoulder. Excalibur's head lifted surprisingly fast to look at Phil who now stood frozen solid in anxiety.

"Phil..." Excalibur said, beginning to regain his sanity, "Let's... let's just get this over with." He got up began to walk silently outside of the building without looking back.

Soon after, Phil followed, stepping lightly so he would not slip on the mossy jungle floor. As he looked around, he saw wreckage everywhere. Some looked like ancient aircraft, small vehicles, and a strange, robotic bear head that had faded paint that looked like it could have been gold during an earlier time. As he continued past, he could feel it almost staring at him maliciously. Up ahead, Excalibur abruptly stopped in his tracks and raised a fist into the air to signal a halt. Phil stopped a few feet behind and tried looking over Excalibur's shoulder, hoping to see what was ahead. Finally, he crouched down to Excalibur who stuck an arm out to prevent him from going further.

"Wait..." Excalibur warned, looking straight ahead over the swampy water and into a naturally made tunnel, "Grineer." He and Phil leaned forward to see better. From around the corner within the tunnel, a large, armored boot stepped out, followed by the fugliest face Phil had ever seen...


	5. Rescuing Mag Sort Of

"Uh..." Phil looked back to Excalibur with an expression of both confusing shock and ultimate terror. "He's kinda gigantic."

"Yea, you're telling me!" Excalibur exclaimed, causing the Grineer to look in their direction. He swiftly grabbed Phil by the collar of his warframe and brought him in close. "Ok, I have a plan..."

"Good, good, that's a start."

...

[2 minutes later]

"What is it?!" Phil asked, trying to keep calm through his frantic breathing.

"I'm still thinki- I got it!" Excalibur quickly lowered his voice when he saw the Grineer lancer turn toward the sudden outburst. "I take this guy out and you... scout ahead, ok?"

"Got it, except..."

"What?" Excalibur questioned, becoming more annoyed by his ally than the enemy.

"Which one of us takes... _him _out?" Phil pointed hesitantly just behind Excalibur, who slowly turned around after feeling a hate glare burn through his armor.

The same large, armor-clad lancer stared down at the pair of Tenno with a Grakata assault rifle raised to the back of Excalibur's head. On the barrel of the weapon, Phil could see his own reflection and felt a slight relief for his helmet covering the frightened expression glued on his face. It was pretty safe to say these were their final moments. From behind his helmet, Excalibur let out a soft sob. He was about to die, and the last person he would see is... Phil.

With a low growl, the disgruntled Grineer slowly moved his finder onto the rifle trigger. Just as the thought of shooting crossed his mind, a low hum could be heard from his shield module, which stayed attached to his hip. He took a surprised, worried step backward when he saw the shield capacity decrease rapidly. He became even more concerned as the low hum progressed into a high-pitched whirring noise and the capacity depleted in no time.

The lancer groaned and shrugged, getting a very bad feeling about this. He watched the capacity level at two, then one. "Oh, crap."

Knowing this couldn't be an exactly pleasant sign, Excalibur took the Grineer's distraction as a quick second opportunity. He grabbed Phil by the arm and pulled him close. Just after, Excalibur channeled the energy in his veins through the warframe and into his legs. In an instant, both him and Phil jetted forward a couple of meters in a flash of blue. Just as they came to a sudden stop that nearly made Phil lose his lunch, Excalibur knelt down and pulled Phil as well just as a large explosion went off around the area they were just sitting. Afraid, and slightly nauseated, the two regained their composure and looked back at where the Grineer stood. What used to be the lancer was now a black ring on the ground where the area had been burnt in the small explosion. Small lines of smoke started to float upwards and Excalibur squinted to see past it.

Before he could see the shape, a leg show out of the smoke, then an arm, until Mag's helmet appeared. Her hand seemed to have kind of an aura around it that she shook off. Once the aura disappeared, a low humming sound stopped. Speechless, and surprised that the rescuers turned into the ones being rescued, Excalibur tried to form words in his mouth.

"Mag!" Phil got to his feet, leaped into the air and came down, ending in a super hug. Mag stood, looking awkward while Phil didn't seem to be in a rush to let go.

"Um... Phil?" she said patiently.

"Huh? Oh, right." He took a step back, seeming to get the hint.

"Thank y-" Mag was cut off when Phil opened his mouth again.

"How could we forget about Excalibur?" Phil hugged Mag again, only this time, he motioned his hand for Excalibur to join in on the group hug. Excalibur just shook his head and got to his feet, mumbling to himself.

Excalibur brushed the dust off his warframe and turned to face his teammates. "The faster we run through this, the faster we can go look for Volt." He started to walk past the two and move toward their destination. Soon after, when Mag had finally managed to pry Phil away from his enduring hug, the two followed their now confident leader behind enemy lines.

~(o)~

[Meanwhile, somewhere in... uh... space]

_Weeer! Weeer! Weeer! Weeer! _The blaring alarm of the Liset's security system only seemed to make the situation feel worse as the ship plummeted into the atmosphere, the back left thruster had been shot during the Grineer assault.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Volt yelled, struggling to pull more of his body onto the center console to prevent himself from being flown to the other side. It was looking to be a crappy week for everyone.

After a few seconds, which felt like forever, Volt managed to pull himself up enough to get a glimpse of a large rock that was directly in the Liset's path. Out of options, he let go of the console and allowed himself to fly back, just as the ship crashed. Luckily, the ship impacted the Earth just before he hit the back wall. Instead of slamming into the metal hull, Volt dropped down to the floor, having the wind knocked out from his body.

Once oxygen found its way into his lungs again, the crash-landed Tenno looked around at the now slanted floor. It was safe to say the ship had finally come to a full stop. It hadn't been long after Volt managed to pull himself out of the wreckage that the sound of nearby snarling made him suddenly whip his head around in fear.

The sound seemed canine. It seemed feral. It seemed close... and whatever it was, it was not just one...

~(o)~


	6. Get In, Get The Guy, Get Out

~(o)~

"VOLT! VOLT?! VOLT~!" Phil kept screaming at the top of his lungs while Excalibur and Mag swiftly continued forward, staying crouched to make sure nobody detected them.

"He's gonna get us shot," Excalibur whispered, "then maybe stabbed."

"No one's come yet," Mag reasoned, more to herself than her teammate, "maybe when we get closer, he'll be quiet."

What first seemed like a small walkway soon felt like a lengthy tunnel as Phil's ridiculous cries echoed on the walls. Soon, however, a bright light appeared at the end of the rocky tunnel.

Phil suddenly stopped his shouting and silently skipped to the edge of the wall and poked his head out ever... so... slightly. The entire chamber look a lot larger than the outside, there were metal crates and random junk scattered about. As soon as it looked like the cost was clear, what appeared to be five or six Grineer suddenly came out of nowhere, just walking about and probably bored.

"Looks like they're doing their normal rounds." Excalibur explained, "Probably trying to keep the capture target safe. Who IS the target anyway?"

"No clue," Phil said bluntly, "Lotus just thought it'd be funny. A test, maybe."

As Excalibur looked forward in utter annoyance, all Mag could say was a short, "What?" She asked, confused and slightly offended that this high risk mission was just so their all-wise leader could get some cheap laughs.

"Ok," Excalibur said, ending the confusion, "we need a plan of-"

"ATTACK!" Phil cried before suddenly jumping to his feet. He tightened the grip on his BO-staff and rushed out to take the Grinner head on. It wasn't till the sound of five or six guns cocking that he suddenly stopped in his tracks. In nearly a split second, Phil seemed to have froze, literally. In fact, he was so still, he almost seemed to blend in.

Mag looked out from the tunnel and saw Phil standing there, completely unwavering. "Why aren't they shooting him?" she asked under a gasp.

"I-I'm... not sure" Excalibur stuttered, something that stupid and impossible was never seen before.

Phil let out a choppy sigh of relief, for some reason, they still didn't notice him. He started to awkwardly sneak around a tree, crawl through some large roots, and stopped for a quick breath before ascending the flight of stairs leading to a rickety bridge. He finally stopped at the beginning of the bridge and looked down to see Excalibur and Mag stare in surprise. Thinking about what a better Tenno might do, Phil started using hand signs to signal his two teammates that the coast is clear.

"What's he doing now?" Excalibur asked, moving closer to Mag.

"He's just..." she couldn't exactly tell because right now, Phil was just flailing his arms wildly on the other side. She responded to his signals by shrugging. "I guess we're supposed to go."

"But-" Excalibur couldn't finish because Mag was already heading to Phil.

Along the way there, Mag knew how to approach the situation thanks to basic training. Using a combat roll, she silently came up from behind one of the lancers. Before the Grineer soldier could respond, a swift skana blade made its way through his back. Mag quickly caught his body and set in neatly on the metal floor. She then continued into the small structure. Past the end of the hallway, she saw Phil on the bridge, waiting patiently for his comrades. Activating her location HUD, Mag saw the two capture targets walking around. They were just on the other side of the bridge. She deactivated the HUD just to find four Grineer right in front of her, all with Grakata rifles pointed forward.

On the bridge, Phil saw what was happening and started looking down at the commotion and back to where the targets were, should he help Mag or continue the mission? He never was the most attentive student at the U, he wasn't prepared for this.

Mag was too surprised to even move, she started to panic and hyperventilate. Fumbling with her Lato holster, the Grineer began to open fire. Desperate, and seeing the shield capacity deplete rapidly, Mag lifted her arm and created a heavy wave of magnetic energy that enveloped the Grineer squad. In a matter of seconds, she increased the magnetic power until the entire squad was crushed in mid-air. Using so much energy had made her feel light headed. She pulled out her Lato pistol and made her way forward toward the bridge. Once she got there, she was once again surprised to see that Phil had already crossed and was sneaking up to one of the targets.

Phil kept following closely behind the capture target as he wandered around. Remembering what Lotus told him to do, the now brave Tenno activated the transport gun on his hand and steadily pointed it forward to capture. Before the laser could fire, the target moved forward, causing Phil to almost fall forward. So, he continued following him.

[Four transport attempts later]

"Could you stop moving for two seconds?!" Phil cried, legs hurting from crouching so much.

"Oh, sorry," the unnamed target responded, rather politely, "what're you doing here, friend?"

"Yea... uh..." Phil started, "I'm with the Chamber of Commerce, I just need a picture of you... being yourself."

"Seriously?" the target asked, feeling insulted... "I used to model before my captive days, not the Grineer just protect me and-

"Yep, you're interesting," Phil noted, resetting the transport gun. "Here we go."

"Here we wha-?" _BZZZZZT! "_AHHHHH!"

_Ouch, _was all Phil could think, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. He was about to find his team until another zapping sound rung all around, along with a blood curdling scream. Guess they already got the second one. Phil looked in the direction of the noise and waiting patiently for his awesome teammates to dramatically walk up the hill and congratulate him.

"Ruuuun!" Excalibur's voice called from the other side of the hill. He and Mag ran like their lived depended on it toward Phil. "Phil,... run!"

When he finished shouting, a small army of Grineer rushed after them with bullets flying in every which way. Thinking on the spot, Excalibur reached over and grabbed Mag around her waist.

"What the hell are you doing?!" she screamed.

"Just hang on and head down!" Excalibur yelled back. He lifted his skana into the air and released a large light that shined at the tip, causing the nearby Grineer to cry out and shield their masks. Focusing his energy to the legs, Excalibur rushed both himself and Mag forward next to Phil. The three Tenno then started to bolt for the top of the hill where their Lisets were hovering, awaiting for pickup.

"Welcome back... er... Phil." Ordis' formal voice sounded from within Phil's helmet. It was odd, but so near to death Phil had never been happier to hear the homicidal computer speak. "I see you've survived..." he continued, "... fantastic."

"Ditto, Jeeves," Phil said quickly, desperate to finally get out of there, "Now let's just go!"

A few seconds later, the roar of engines preceded three Lisets that hovered for a bit right before taking off, blasting through the atmosphere... and unbeknownst to them but beknownst to us, they were adding to the global warming that will someday lead to the planets doom...

**Sorry, all. I haven't updated in a LONG time but, thanks for still reading! I was just busy making a DeviantArt and playing quite a lot of Hearthstone. I'll be updating more if I can, thanks again! ^^**


	7. The Kubrow King

~(o)~

Volt breathed heavily as he squinted in the direction where the menacing growls came from. As if right on cue, six narrow, calculating eyes peered from out of the darkness of the nearby brush. Three snarling dog-like creatures emerged when they saw they were detected. Volt took a quick step back when one of them snapped its jaws swiftly at his left leg. He recognized what these things were from reading up on hazards Tenno may face. The creatures were known as Kubrow, vicious carnivores that always lived in dens made from mud... along with other stuff.

The three Kubrows started to fan out, a tactic of theirs Volt saw as new. Kubrows were known to hunt in packs but, never this coordinated, it scared the crap out of him.

Anxious as to why they hadn't torn him apart yet, Volt rushed forward in between the three of them. "Come on, ya mutts!" he cried frantically. He focused his energy into his hands and in a few seconds, surges of electricity pulsed from his palms. He raised them together and a wall of blue energy rose with them. Since they were not familiar with Volt's power, one of the creatures snarled and tensed its hind legs and leapt forward, claws out.

_Whap! _The poor Kubrow slammed right into the energy wall and its face pressed hard against the clear blue surface. With a high-pitched, prolonged squeak, it slid off onto the ground only to spring to its feet a split second later, growling once more at the Tenno.

By this time, Volt got sick and tired of these creatures and charged so much energy into his hands, blue streaks of electricity surged around his forearm. Those Kubrow were gonna fry, and he was going to get out of there. However, just before he unleashed the bolt of electricity, a loud tapping sound suddenly made the Kubrow turn and look toward the source.

A tall figure stepped out of the shadows carrying a large walking stick. He seemed strangely familiar except for the fact that he wore an old Kubrow skull as a headdress and lines of smeared... mud? (I assume) lined his helmet to appear as tribal markings. The armor he wore was definitely of Tenno origin, perhaps he had a way out of the hellhole they were in.

The Kubrows resumed their growling and snarls until the mystery Tenno let out a series of fake yips and ruffs. Just then, the three Kubrows stopped their tantrums, sat down where they were and began panting heavily while wagging their tails, awaiting new orders.

"H-hey..." Volt started reluctantly. He still wasn't too sure if he could trust someone who may have lost his mind, "I'm-"

"Volt?" the stranger asked, walking up to him faster.

Volt took a surprised step back. "Uh, yea... How did you know?"

"Why we were in the same graduating class, of course!" he responded.

Volt didn't look too convinced. "I'm pretty sure I would've remembered YOU." He eyed the strange Tenno from head to toe as he spoke the last word.

"It's Loki, remember me?" Loki removed the Kubrow skull from his head so Volt may recognize him.

Sure enough, despite the new nature bound look, Volt did recall seeing that same, horned helmet around the university. Of course, he didn't seem as insane as he did now.

"I'm surprised you're even talking to me." Volt pointed out, "You were fun at first but, then you became so distant."

"Oh," Loki thought about his response and sighed, "I didn't like the fact we were being made into weapons. So, I conjured up a hologram clone to attend for me. Let me just uh... deactivate it." He started to press a random combination of buttons installed onto his forearm.

* * *

~(o)~

[Meanwhile, on Equinox's Liset]

"You know, Loki," Equinox said softly, sitting next to Loki's clone on a set of chairs, "I had thought with a name like yours you'd be annoying, but, you're rather quiet. I find that very attractive, that's why I let you come aboard when those Grineer attacked."

She waited for a response as the clone simply sat there, motionlessly. From anticipation and slight embarrassment, her armor became a darkened hue that gave away her happy attitude at the moment.

"Well?..." she said, feeling impatient, "wanna say anything?"

The clone's head sprang up and started vibrating violently. Slightly unnerved, Equinox looked at it with worry and her armor returned to its neutral form. Before she could say anything else, the clone started to glitch out and take on a holographic appearance before abruptly disappearing with a _pfft _sound.

Realizing her quiet company had only been a ruse, she shook in irritation and rage while her armor switched quickly to day form and made her eyes burn bright yellow. She jumped up and looked outside the Liset's windshield toward deep space, "Son of a bitch!"

* * *

~(o)~

"Boop! Done." Loki sat down by a nearby boulder and began petting one of the obviously tamed Kubrow.

"How did you train Kubrows, anyway?" Volt asked, more than curious as to how these creatures could be house pets.

"Oh, just a lotta love," Loki said with a smile. "In fact, I had a Kubrow even in the university, what happened though... drove me to leave..."

At this point, Volt was in no rush to leave. He plopped down next to Loki and slung an arm around him like they were best friends. "Do tell." He said, giving the ok to start another flashback.


	8. An A-B Conversation

"On second thought, hold that flashback." Volt stated, more preoccupied on how to escape from... wherever they were.

"Fine." Loki said, slightly disappointed. "Not like I wanted you to listen anyway..." He later soon got up and walked over to play with the Kubrows who were wrestling on the ground nearby.

"Hey, Loki?" Volt asked, "Where's your Liset?"

"Why do ya, ask?"

"Cause unlike you, I actually WANT to get out of here!" Volt snapped. His sudden anger caused a few of the Kubrows to growl protectively over their Tenno overlord.

"Calm down, kids..." Loki soothed to his pets. He then turned to Volt who was staring with slight annoyance. "Well, last night, we used the remaining fuel to light a fire."

Volt let out a forced sigh, it was not his day. "Engine at least?..." he asked hopelessly.

"It-uh... shorted out." Loki stated, "Made one hell of a grill till the grease seeped through." He reached behind a rock and brought out a slab of meat. "Hungry?" He stuck out his hand in offering.

Volt snagged the meat from Loki's hand and sat down again by the same boulder. Not knowing when he'll ever get a way out, he slapped the meat onto his forehead in hopes of removing the oncoming headache.

~(o)~

_[Back on Phil's Liset...]_

The console fizzed to life when the holographic form of Lotus appeared.

"Phil?... Phil~?" her voice sounded with the same sing-song tone.

"Present!" Phil took off his helmet and smiled, happy that he survived his first mission as a success.

_Zzzzt. _A holographic Excalibur suddenly appeared onto the second console. "Phil, where the hell were you when Mag-" he paused when he saw the image of Lotus just next to him. "She's talking to YOU?"

"YES." Lotus abruptly snapped before going to childish tones once more. "It's an A-B conversation, so I'll see you out." With a wave of her hand, she overrided the Ordis' communications and Excalibur's image glitched and soon faded to nothing.

"Oh, what was that for?" Phil asked.

"Oh, no need to worry about that," Lotus grinned toothily." Anyhoo... I'm sending the three of you on a new mission."

"Whoa. But, we just got out of there."

"Why wait till the adrenaline wears off?" she reasoned. "Besides, by doing SUCH a great job for your first mission, I handpicked the three of you for this one."

"Is it a... capture mission? Cause I think that was easy enough." Phil smiled.

Lotus chuckled a bit at his newfound confidence. "No, it's a RESCUE."

She waved her hand again and another holographic image appeared. It was the facial bust of a Corpus who looked as though he had small tire tracks going down his chin.

"We're helping the Corpus?" Phil wondered. It seemed odd to help people who wanted them just as dead as Grineer.

"Darvo is not the same, he sympathizes with the Tenno," she assured, "He is also willing to allow us weapons from his cache."

Phil looked down and saw that the only thing he ever had was the Bo-staff issued to him. That, and an autographed self-portrait of Ash he hadn't even asked for.

"Yea... guess I could use more of that." he figured.

Content with his obedience, Lotus pinpointed the coordinates to the prison in which Darvo was being held captive. Phil responded after by walking up to the controls and lightly tapped the location on the HUD.

"Hostile territory, pilot." Ordis' automated voice informed, "Occupied by Grineer."

Letting out a small, light chuckle, Ordis cleared his throat after. "It'll be dangerous, pilot. May result in death... full speed ahead?"

Phil slowly slipped on his Warframe helmet, feeling his face turn ghostly white. "I-um... I...," he began hesitantly. He stopped when he saw Lotus was still there and didn't want to seem cowardly in front of his leader. "I mean, aye!"

"Wait. 'Aye'?" Ordis questioned. "What are you, some kind of pirate?"

"You heard him, Ordis," Lotus said with a certain venom, "full speed ahead."

~(o)~

_[Meanwhile in Excalibur's Liset]_

"Cal?" Mag asked, concerned for her teammate, "are you alright? You suddenly went quiet."

"I-I'm fine." Excalibur said, baffled that Lotus had cut him off so harshly. He remembered that he had muted his side and activated the communications again. "I'm fine. I was just... talking to Phil."

"Oh, is he ok? He was quiet since we took off."

Excalibur couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy, her voice sounded more filled with concern about PHIL'S well being.

"He's _fine._" Excalibur calmed himself after blurting in anger. "Busy talking to Lotus."

"He's talking to Lotus?!" She suddenly screamed into the console, causing Excalibur to take off his helmet due to the piercing echo.

"Yea..." he agreed, patting his ear till the ringing ceased. "But, why HIM?"

"I don't know," Mag replied, "I guess there's a reason for everything." She didn't want to admit it but, she was feeling about just as jealous as Excalibur was at the moment.

Excalibur stayed quiet for a minute to ponder what Lotus saw in Phil that was special. Suddenly, he looked to the corner of his eye where a bright, blue-tinted light appeared just outside the Liset. Rushing to the far left of the windshield, he saw Phil's ship slowly make its way forward, gradually picking up speed.

"Where's he going?" Excalibur wondered. "Mag?"

"We should at least follow to make sure he doesn't hurt himself." she answered.

Soon after, both Mag and Excalibur's Lisets roared to life and began tailing Phil toward Earth. Whatever reason they were returning there, Excalibur wondered what was making Phil suddenly so distant. He was acting like a one-man army and knowing Phil, it could only lead to trouble...


	9. Brand New Adventure

~(o)~

The daylight had now descended into nightfall and Volt, Loki, and the Kubrows had found shelter under a nearby rock formation. Although small, it provided enough roof to protect the five of them from the thunderstorm that was coming. The alien canines were each huddled against one another, trying to get warm next to the pitiful bonfire Loki had tried to ignite. By now, the flames had reached an inferno of five inches in height and the poor pooches were shivering. Both the Tenno placed on their warframe helmets which were insulated for warmth.

"Well, I hope you got comfortable here," Loki stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "Cos we're pretty much home now, dude."

Under his helmet, Volt rolled his eyes irritably. "Speak for yourself." he said, "This planet SUCKS... _dude_."

"I'm just saying, if this is it, might as well make the best of things." He looked over at Volt who didn't respond, save for crossing his arms, and threw his own hands up in defeat. "Fine," Loki said, "be miserable."

Volt sighed deeply. "I just wish there was some way, a sign, to know my friends are all right."

At that moment, three Lisets roared overhead and flew by the stranded group. The sudden noise caused the kubrows to bark hysterically and run in frantic circles.

Almost thinking Volt had magic, Loki used both hands to grab onto his left leg. "Wish for money!" he cried. "We'd be rich!"

"I know that sound!" Volt tried to shake Loki off his leg to no avail. "G-get off!" He looked back up to see the ships disappear from view.

"Wish for it!" Loki's voice cracked.

After one of the Kubrows saw their master pleading, it tried humping Volt's right leg to help. Now enraged and having had his leg violated, Volt shoved Loki back and kicked the Kubrow away.

"Ok, that's it!" Volt spat. He stood over Loki who now was sitting in a small puddle and shot his arm out, pointing in the direction where the Lisets flew off. "We're going to find them and get out of here!"

With feelings hard to bruise, Loki sprang to his feet with an idea. "Hold on, we'll at least take the ride."

"... 'Ride'?" Volt wondered.

With a smug grin, Loki gave a small nod and a sharp whistle. At the sound, all three Kubrows made a V-formation with two standing side by side and one in the middle up front. Loki then strutted into the rain and brought back a large metal plating with makeshift handle bars on the end. He proceeded in attaching a set of harnesses and ropes made from vines and branches to each Kubrow, linking them and the sled together.

_[8 minutes later]_

Loki stepped back from the completed sled to allow Volt a better look. A wide, proud smile swept Loki's face.

"Uh... there's only room for one." Volt pointed out.

"Yea, you'll have to sit behind and hold on." he replied.

"I don't... think... so." Volt said with a hiss.

_[15 minutes later]_

The sled sloshed down the jungle pathways. Thanks to the rain and mud, the slick terrain made the sled fly. The loud yipping and barking of the charging Kubrows echoed throughout which surprised Volt when nothing attacked them. However, it was the least of his personal worries because sitting just behind Loki with both arms wrapped around his waist felt awkward and uncomfortable.

"Hey, Loki?!" Volt asked, raising his voice so he could hear.

"Yea?!" he called back.

"This here... don't mention it to... ANYONE!"

"Got it!" Loki assured, understandingly. "We'll be there in no time anyway!" He looked looked forward and flicked the ropes, "MUSH!" In an instant, the Kubrows picked up the pace.

~(o)~

The three Lisets continued their course until a large prison compound came into sight. The entire structure looked fairly impressive considering it was the property of the Grineer. A conveniently isolated platform was located on the far side of a walkway that curved around the mountainside. Despite the hazardous weather and low visibility, the ships' autopilot had hovered safely above the platform, a mere few feet above.

One after the other, Excalibur and Mag dropped from the hatch under their Lisets and landed without so much as a splash of water from collected rainfall. They both looked up to see the height of the communications antennae just in time for a bolt of lightning to strike it, causing sparks to fall amongst the raindrops.

"Whoa," Excalibur breathed as he took a cautious step back, "wouldn't want to get hit by that."

Mag could only nod as she followed the sparks with her eyes. Soon, she found herself looking to the side at Excalibur as the sparks and rain rolled off his helmet and shoulder armor. Till now, she hadn't thought much about just how form fitting his warframe was and slightly wondered if he looked just as good underneath.

Catching herself daydreaming, Mag was quick to push those thoughts aside and breathed a sigh of relief that Excalibur hadn't noticed her staring, although she couldn't help but wish he had.

"Uh, where's Phil?" she asked, trying to get herself off topic.

Excalibur looked back toward Phil's Liset. "Hmm... hadn't dropped yet." He activated the team communication in hopes of reaching his wayward teammate. "Phil? Phil, we're here."

Back on the Liset, Phil was lying in the drop hatch still waiting for Ordis to let him out.

"Having problems, Operator?" Ordis asked casually.

"Yea. Um... could you open the hatch now?" Phil asked. Truthfully, he was always nervous at this part, knowing Ordis cared absolutely nothing for him.

"In due time, Operator..." Ordis allowed a small chuckle to escape which made Phil tense up a bit, by now he feared for his life at the hands of his own ship.

Outside, Excalibur and Mag were still waiting for Phil and Excalibur had begun flipping a single kunai around his finger.

"Phil," he begun, "we're at the prison, get the hell out here!"

"You sure are being sour." Mag scolded. "Don't worry, he's just probably getting ready."

_[A few minutes later]_

"Lemme out!" Phil cried, starting to feel claustrophobic.

"Very well, Operator." Ordis conceded. "See you on the other side."

"Of what?"

The drop hatch suddenly opened and Phil landed hard on the ground. Mag rushed over to help him but stopped dead in her tracks when a bolt of lightning shot down and struck Phil square in the chest. He let out a pained shriek and writhed on the ground. Mag knelt down beside him and helped him up.

"Phil, are you ok?" she asked with upmost concern.

"Was I explode-ed-ded?." he responded groggily. His head leaned to the side weakly as he tried to get back up.

"Ok," Excalibur placed the kunai into its pocket and got up, "let's go rescue Darvo and get back to finding Volt."

He then walked toward a small control panel and activated a lift that would save the time and energy of running across the metal path. Soon, the low whirring sound of the lift approached and the three of them clamored inside before another lightning bolt struck. Once onboard, Excalibur tossed a kunai at the control panel and, while breaking it, the lift reversed its course and headed toward the prison compound... and certain death.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update, been a tad bit busy. I'll try to do a better job at it though. ****Also, just wanted to say, thanks so much for reading and for the reviews! I'm very glad you enjoy it. ^^**

**Though, I am going to give fair warning here. The "Darvo" quest was basically the last mission I've done. I'm not even finished with Earth, dumb sabotage mission. Anyhow, point being, I am reading up on the lore and wiki and I will do my best to get facts straight but, it IS a fanfiction so there will be the odd change now and again, including timelines sometime.**

**Thanks again for reading! It's been pretty fun writing it! :D**


	10. Busting Out

The lift continued to move along the rail until the three Tenno saw the large doors of the loading dock open up to let the small platform enter. Before the lift came to a full stop, the three of them jumped off and onto a nearby catwalk.

"Well," Excalibur sighed, a bit disappointed, "that was a lot easier than I thought."

Mag nodded in agreement, "So much for security." She looked to the side at a broken pipeline with an opening large enough to crouch into. "So, which way? Door or pipe?"

Excalibur looked to the door. Might have been easier but, who knew what waited on the other side? "Let's go through the pipe." he decided.

As they made their way, each footstep uttered only the slightest clang. Once the end of the pipe was in view, Excalibur went ahead and looked over the side. A Lancer was on guard and seemed more preoccupied in humming his own theme music than checking for intruding Tenno.

Quickly pulling out a single kunai, Excalibur skillfully chucked it towards the back of the Lancer's head. Much to the surprise of all three Tenno, the Grineer soldier simply whipped his hand outward and caught the kunai by the blade using only two fingers.

"Ha-ha!" he teased, turning to face his attackers. "Gotta be a lot faster than tha-"

His taunting was cut short by a single arrow plowing into his chest. Just the force alone sent him flying backwards and crashing into the far wall with a thud. Excalibur and Phil looked to see Mag fixing her bow onto her back. With a slight _click_, it was locked in place ready for unsheathing.

Seeing her teammates gawking, she rolled her eyes. "It was easier that way." she shrugged.

Speaking a little too soon, the Tenno looked back in horror at the Grineer who had been impaled to the wall. His body was frighteningly close to the alarm system and it began to slump to the side. Willing the body to stop, they were helpless as the head rested gently onto the big, red alarm button. They each gave an uneasy sight of relief and even smiled. That is until the Grineer's eyes shot open and he gave the button a head-butt with his dying breath.

"Not fast enough..." the Lancer chuckled before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he died with a triumphant smile on his face.

~(o)~

_[That very moment in the prison security room]_

"Warden!" A Grineer called out. "Someone's activated the security."

A larger Grineer in bright yellow armor lifted a heavy Vulkar sniper rifle and turned to walk out the door. "They've come for the Corpus prisoner! Sound the alarm," he ordered, "I'm going hunting."

Obeying the command, the first Grineer grabbed the microphone and yelled into the P.A. system. "BWAAH! BWAAAH! BWAAH!"

~(o)~

The Grineer's voice seemed to have echoed everywhere and soon, the nearest door slid open and a whole squad of Lancers entered the room with their rifles raised. The team of Tenno looked at each other and decided to make a move. Mag whipped out her Lato pistol, Phil readied his Bo-staff after accidentally hitting himself in the face, and Excalibur unsheathed his Skana. Hearing the sound of weapons being drawn, the Grineers looked up to see a blur of space-ninja ferocity.

Phil jumped down and managed to sweep a Lancer off his feet just as Excalibur came down with the Skana and finished him off. Just before a second Lancer could shoot Phil in the head, Mag fired several rounds that put an end to the attacker. She then saw the other Lancers regrouping and used her magnetic powers to pull the group forward. Sensing the opportunity with the stunned enemies, Excalibur focused a portion of his energy into his arm and reached out. At once, five javelins appeared in the air, each facing a single enemy. He clenched his fist and all five spears flew at a blinding speed, impaling the remaining Grineer toward the wall.

The trio then ran out of the room and found themselves looking at a large assortment of platforms and whatnot. Nearly as soon as they stepped out, Grineer swarmed the place, popping out from behind cover and even within the bathrooms. Without the slightest hesitation they opened fire.

Now trapped, and highly considering retreat, the Tenno were pinned under the gunfire. When Phil poked his head out from the small crate they were behind he saw a rather skinny Grineer charging at full speed with what looked to be a large kitchen knife. At the sight of the sprinting psycho, Phil quickly sank back into cover.

"We have a problem." he said bluntly.

Excalibur looked at him in panic. "What?!" he shouted, the gunfire was starting to drown out noise.

"What?!" Phil shouted back.

Mag could only make out some of the words they were saying and she looked over as well. "WHO?!"

Excalibur took off his helmet and looked back at Mag. "WHERE?!"

Suddenly, the Butcher towered over Phil and raised the cleaver high up to split his head like... food. Turning around just in time to see him, Excalibur gripped his helmet tightly and chucked it with all the force he could muster.

_CLANG! _The Warframe helmet bounced off the Grineer's head and landed in Excalibur's outstretched hands. The Grineer remained standing with the cleaver still raised before falling limply backwards.

"Wow," Phil exclaimed, "how'd you know that would work?"

"Worked on _you_ before." he replied.

Phil seemed to space out as a flashback came back to him from Graduation Day.

Suddenly, the hailstorm of bullets stopped and for a brief moment, everything was quiet. Excalibur looked from behind the bullet ridden crate and saw the Lancers drawing closer, as well as more Butchers to follow. It seemed as though their second mission could end not so well.

Phil's flashback proved to be short-lived as heavy vibrations in the ground shook him back to reality.

Both Tenno and Grineer alike within the room all stopped focusing on the situation and turned to the far off tunnel from where the rumbling resonated. Not a second too late, a sled pulled by a team of Kubrow stormed into the lobby and started barking angrily and all the strangers around. Only Loki stood on the sled and when one of the Grineer fired at him, the rounds simply phased through and struck the back wall.

Slightly confused, the Lancer pointed his weapon down and aimed for the Kubrow. However, he soon felt the neck of the rifle slam into his helmet as Loki came up from behind and forced the gun upwards with his walking stick. Meanwhile, the holographic clone who stood on the sled glitched out and disappeared.

"Never shoot my dogs..." Loki scolded, bringing his staff down onto the Lancer's head, "NEVER!" He raised the staff in triumph before the gunfire of a nearby Grataka rifle went off.

Thinking on the spot, Mag willed a magnetic shield to form around a single Grineer who probably felt unlucky when the friendly bullets suddenly went out of their way to riddle holes into him. Loki turned around and beamed a bright smile under his mask in both gratitude and fright.

Seeing a Butcher charge at his Kubrow team, Loki gripped his staff and closed his eyes for a split second. Instantly, he was standing right where the Butcher was and just a few yards away, the bewieldered enemy ran towards him without the time to stop. Loki swung the staff in a wide arc low to the ground, sweeping the Butcher into the air before jabbing it downwards onto his chest.

With the Butcher being down and out, Loki swung his staff onto the wooden harnesses holding the Kubrow in place, unleashing them. The fiery canines split from their formation and lept at the nearest pair of Grineer in a tussle of growls and shedding fur.

_Grrr... CRUNCH! _"That was my favorite leg!" one of the ravenged Grineer screamed.

After taking out three or four Lancers, the Kubrow trio ran to the side hallways, looking for more Grineer to maim.

_BANG! _An ear-ringing shot pierced the air and Loki suddenly fell forward in surprise. Already his shields were down to single digits and he scrambled to get out of the sniper's line of sight. Another shot rang out just as Loki found shelter behind a crate. A large portion of the metal was bent where the bullet hit. Swearing in Grineese, the Warden raised his head from the scope to get a better look of the room's layout. Just behind him was the giant door which led to the cell block that held Darvo.

"Who's that?" Mag asked, motioning to Loki.

"I dunno," Excalibur responded, "but we owe him one. Maybe he's seen Volt."

Lightly tossing a single bullet with her magnetic power, Mag managed to get Loki's attention. She removed her helmet and waved. _You know Volt? _she mouthed.

Loki nodded and quickly pointed upwards to a small, circular vent that was built into the wall.

Mag slipped her helmet back on and looked up just in time to see a blue light emmiting from within the vent. Seconds after, a flash of blue lightning zipped overhead and made contact with the Warden's shoulder. The towering Grineer went down with surges of electricity covering his body. Apparantly, the armor wasn't suited for getting tazed.

Volt lept down and landed square onto the crate which protected his teamates. Looking down, he gave a small salute and was given a thumbs-up by Excalibur.

"Decided to take a detour on us?" Excalibur laughed.

"You know I can't stay away." Volt replied, tilting his head a bit to the side humorously.

From near the cellblock, the Warden seemed to have regained his footing. The Grineer may have been stupid, but they were undoubtably tough. As he lifted the rifle back up, the Tenno, just a ways ahead had emerged from behind the crates and stood waiting for the lone Grineer to make a move.

"Well," Volt said, sighing theatrically, "how 'bout a party trick?"

Tensing his leg muscles, Volt sent a wave of electric current through the metal below and stretched it to reach the other Tenno. When it made contact, Excalibur, Mag, Phil, and Loki felt suddenly lighter and more capable. All of them then had a blue aura surrounding their arms and legs.

"That's tingly." Phil pointed out, shaking his leg like it fell asleep.

"Nope," Volt replied, "that's gonna make us awesome."

After a sharp blast, a bullet shot right between past Volt who simply cocked his head to the side to dodge. The five Tenno then charged forward when the Warden dropped his Vulkar and picked up a nearby Grataka rifle.

At a speed far too quick and impossible dexterity, the team ran through the bulletstorm of the Grataka unharmed. By the time the rifle clip ran empty, the Warden looked down to reload. Before he could though, multiple shadows caught his attention and he looked up to see all five Tenno, battle ready near the ledge with Excalibur up front, slightly crouched with his Skana drawn.

"You have something of ours." he growled.

_[One painful beatdown later]_

The giant iron door to the prison cellblock opened with a mechanical whirring noise. The group then entered a large chamber filled with cell doors that looked to be secured with low-grade Grineer technology.

Remembering their training in security systems, the five split up and began hacking into the terminals of all the cell doors. One by one, they opened and looked inside each cell, finding someone or something who wasn't Darvo and closing it before they could even get a word in.

At last, Phil found one door on the second level that seemed promising. In fact, a star-shaped sticker meant for actors was slapped in the middle of it.

***DARVO***

"Huh," Excalibur breathed heavily, "and we didn't... see this one before?"

"Who cares?" Volt said, brushing past the others, "let's crack this baby open."

He knelt in front of the electronic panel and carefully placed his fingers onto the holographic locks. After a few seconds of short concentration, the light _beep _came just before the door opened in a spiral effect.

Within the room, a rather skinny Corpus stood in the center twiddiling his thumbs. It made Phil wonder just how boring it must have been. After taking a few steps forward, the lone prisoner turned around after noticing the company and sighed heavily.

"SHEEESH!" Darvo exclaimed in a voice two steps above obnoxious, "I kinda figured you guys'll be here yesterday! Tell me next time if you have a rush fee!"

"Uh... we could always come back after you've made some other prisoners happy." Volt retorted in happy sarcasm.

"Well, excuuuse me." Darvo snapped back. "I'm just the guy who's gonna give you the guns you need so..." he pouted his lips in similar sarcasm, "... better be nice to me."

Excalibur rolled his eyes and placed his arm on Darvo's shoulder. "We're getting you out of here," he said, guiding the Corpus toward Phil. "He'll cover you until you're safe."

Darvo looked to Phil who shrugged his shoulders. "You'll be A-Okay." he assured, smiling under his helmet.

"Fantastic." Darvo uttered half-heartedly.

Soon, the team rushed out of the cell block and found a small army of Grineer prison guards awaiting them.

* * *

**Again, I'm SO sorry. My internet shut down and I just got it back today. Thanks again, all! ^~^**


	11. Darvo and the Lotus

Darvo and the Tenno squad looked around at the large mob armed to the teeth.

"Where did these guys come from?!" Phil suddenly screamed, arms flailing wildly.

"Doesn't matter," Excalibur said, "we've gotta get Darvo out of here."

"I can handle myself." Darvo proclaimed. "Gun, kunai, all the same. Just give me a piece!"

Excalibur and Mag turned to face the small Grineer army. At the same moment, Darvo began silently pleading with Phil to give him a weapon. However, Phil only had his one Bo staff and wasn't too happy at the thought of having to punch enemies out. That is until he got a brilliant idea that would save both time, and Darvo's life.

As Darvo turned around once to shake a fist in the empty air, his loud complaints and whines were drowned out as Phil silently came up from behind with his arm raised. A small crackling sound emitted as Phil lowered his hand onto Darvo's shoulder.

"Wait, what? No... STOP!" _BZZZZZZT! POOF!_

Excalibur, and the other Tenno looked back at Phil and saw a blackened, smoky area where Darvo had been. To their horror, Excalibur and Mag recognized the burnt hole from the previous mission and knew that was not the intended rescue plan.

"Phil," Excalibur breathed, "... where's Darvo?"

"Um... safe?" Was all Phil could come up with.

Excalibur's body started shaking as he fought the urge to tackle his troublesome teammate.

Mag quickly stepped in at that point. "It's ok, Phil. We've got bigger problems now."

"Like she said," Loki repeated, staring into the mass of Grineer, "bigger problems. Let's solve them and get the flock out of here!"

He took up his staff and jumped onto a guard rail near the entrance. From there, he bounded toward the wall and began to run, horizontally, at the Grineer masses. Kicking off and into the air, Loki franticly twirled his walking stick, causing himself to gain more distance in his jump. Once he was overhead, he dropped straight down into the middle of the army and forcibly struck his staff onto the metal ground.

At once, a neon-purple shockwave spread out into the Grineer ranks and caused a lot of them to stumble back. When their footing regained, the Grineer aimed to execute Loki with Grataka rifles. However, when they fired, the clicks of malfunctioning guns were the only noise around. Looking up, Loki had a wide smile on his face. He stood up and rested the staff lazily across his shoulders.

"Problem solved." he beamed.

From the cellblock entrance above, the other Tenno saw the disabled weapons and were quick to draw their weapons. Volt and Mag were the first two to jump down to join Loki in the middle of the mob. Excalibur joined soon after he shot Phil a look. Despite being under a helmet, Phil couldn't help but know Excalibur was glaring, probably regretting ever knowing him. With small hesitation, Phil jumped down to help the others, who had formed a small circle.

After testing out the rifles once more, the Lancers seemed utterly perplexed and dazed by the lack of bullets firing. The Tenno, however had their weapons drawn and ready. Loki chuckled a bit, slung his staff around to a combat position and walked right up to one of the Lancers.

"Surprised?" he said with a shrug.

The Grineer replied by flipping his Grataka around and grabbing the muzzle tightly with both hands. With freakishly large muscles flexing, the Lancer swung the rifle and made contact.

_CRACK!_

Loki felt the side of his head throb as the butt of the Grataka slammed against his helmet. He then stumbled backward into his comrades' arms. As Mag examined the small dent on Loki's helmet, she and the other Tenno hadn't noticed the rest of the Grineer all flipping their rifles as well, wielding them like heavy baseball bats. It wasn't until Excalibur looked up and saw the angry Grineer mob clutching their rifles tightly.

Excalibur's mouth fell open in his helmet. "Oh shit."

Within moments, the team was swarmed with hard blows to the armor by the butts of rifles from all directions. Each Tenno letting out a pained grunt as the muscular Grineer continued their relentless assault.

"I think I would've preferred bullets to this!" Excalibur blurted out just before a gun whacked him in the face, causing him to fall onto the ground. Looking ahead, past the Grineer's stubby legs, he saw a far away door leading out.

Apparently, Volt saw the same door because in a few moments afterwards, he placed down a large wall of electricity between them and the Grineer horde.

"Everyone!" he commanded over the communications, "Push!"

Without skipping a beat, all five Tenno pushed as hard as they could on the electric wall and soon they were barreling through the line of Grineer, electrocuting anyone in the way. Even when they were clear, they kept pushing the shield up the small ramp, with bullets whizzing by. In time, the shield had run out of power and the team bolted forward through the doorway before it could be fully open.

Soon as everyone was inside, Loki jammed his walking stick into the moving gears located to the side which operated the door. The entry door stopped suddenly after a few seconds and only a small crack could be seen, seeping light through. On the other side, the Grinner mob attempted to break through with their makeshift bats.

When Phil ran for the next door, he slammed headfirst into it. and spun around dizzily with one hand weakly raised.

"It-it's a uh..." he stuttered before falling backward, "... locked.

Loki immediately got to work. Instead of hacking into the lock terminal, he sent bolts of lightning at it, overloading the system. In moments, the door whirred to life and opened wide. Once Phil had gotten to his feet, the troupe ran out to be met with stormy conditions.

"The Lisets!" Mag pointed, gesturing to the hovercraft lingering low to the ground, waiting for their passengers.

The sleeping Grineer on watch nearby suddenly woke up with a tired snort. His eyes widened at the sight of the Tenno ships.

"What the h-ACK!" The guard, however, was cut off by Loki's fist colliding with his face.

"Ooh..." Loki grumbled. He rubbed his knuckles soothingly. Grineer armor isn't exactly putty.

Looking back, Phil saw the Grineer mob starting to break through the door. A rather bulky arm was shoved halfway through and was waving in desperation to catch the elusive ninjas.

"To the Lisets!" Excalibur barked.

"Uh," Volt looked around, counting in his head, "don't mind carpooling?"

~(o)~

_[Meanwhile in an undisclosed location]_

The sound of nearby banging made Lotus get up from her seat in which she guided her Tenno subordinates and check out the holding cells. When she walked within limits, the door to the cells recognized their owner and opened to let her pass. More than a dozen prison cells lined the wide hallway, it was the place where Lotus kept prisoners from Extraction missions for interrogation.

All seemed to be in place, once-feared prisoners whined for their freedom and being the Lotus, she didn't pass up any chance to make mocking faces at them. After a few minutes of blowing raspberries into the faces of prisoners, she stopped at one cell when realizing it was one she didn't remember ordering filled.

Standing on the tips of her toes to look over the food slot, the Lotus' mouth formed a shocked frown when she saw Darvo sprawled out on the tile floor, burnt marks all over his formal clothing. As his limp body kept spasming, his leg repeatedly kicked the wall, causing the constant banging noise. From his mouth, spit had formed into an almost rabid-appearing foam that drooled over the side of his mouth onto the ground below.

_[One side-effect session later]_

"I have never, NEVER been so violated with science!" Darvo raged, pacing angrily around the Lotus' control room.

"Again," Lotus pleaded, "I really do apologize for the mistakes of meh peeps."

"Well, I don't think your-... your what?" Darvo asked, taken by surprise at the new vocabulary.

"My comrades," Lotus explained, "some just use 'peeps' informally... so I've been told."

"Well, your 'peeps' can forget the weapons!" Darvo spat.

"Do not..." Lotus started in a calm voice, "raise your VOICE AT ME~!" She shouted with her voice cracking as she suddenly towered over Darvo.

The arms dealer couldn't help but shrink down when he saw the Lotus breathing heavily and growling behind clenched teeth.

"Now," she said, calming down a bit, "how about some deals?"

Getting ready to drop some serious F-bombs, Darvo was just about to unleash hell from his mouth when his eyes somehow wandered to his shoulder pads. A small, tribal print that resembled an eye atop four claws was marked dark red. Almost from habit, he covered the strange marking with his and and turned to he Lotus with a newfound point of view.

"Yes," he said, desperately trying to not point out her crazed antics, "I have some weapons for you... and your 'peeps'"

* * *

**Busy few weeks this has been. First Christmas gift giving and then my best bud's birthday. **

**I really hope everyone's holiday was swell also. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year! ^~^**


	12. Protecting The Pods

_[Meanwhile, on the planet Sedna__]_

"WHAM, WHAM, WHAM!" a Tenno exclaimed, desperately tossing a giant flaming disk repeatedly at an oncoming swarm of Grineer. The disk would bounce off a few of their helmets before returning to his hand.

"Do you have to say that EVERY time, Nezha?!" Ash wondered, coming into view as he rapidly fired his dual Akbolto pistols at their enemies, "And use your guns already!" Slipping them back into his holsters, he grabbed his black and red skana and charged at the Grineer onslaught.

Just before reaching the enemy ranks, Ash quickly snapped his arm downward and shattered a pellet onto the concrete. Instantly, a heavy cloud of compressed smoke cloaked the entire group, leaving them confused and panicked. Suddenly, Ash appeared behind one of the Grineer and thrusted the skana into his spine, killing him instantly. Afterwards, the stealthy Tenno continued teleporting behind them all until he was the only one standing when the smoke cleared.

"Ah, damn." As muttered to himself, looking down at his energy levels. Apparently, the frequent teleporting exhausted his remaining supply.

The time was almost at hand for backup to arrive and defending the few cryopods started looking less of an easy task than before. Fortunately though, whenever a large squad of Grineer Lancers grouped together, the heaviest of the team, Rhino, would charge head on and knock them out in a single run. Without breaking a sweat, he seemed to enjoy himself while making fast work of their attackers.

After their bullets were spent, the small Tenno squad began to lose some hope. Rhino and Nezha stood back to back in front of the pods while Grineer reinforcements closed in. At the same time, Ash had decided to call it quits and began to secretly move away toward his Liset, giving up on his team and sleeping Tenno comrades.

"Huh, can't say I'm surprised," Rhino mentioned, eyeing Ash as he continued to flee.

"Still," Nezha stated with reason, "he's the team leader. If we stay here and leave him alone, we'd be abandoning. May not like it, but it's what we agreed to, Rhino."

Grunting with a nod of understanding, he reluctantly lowered his battle-ready stance and the two began to walk in the direction of their leader. Looking back, Nezha felt a large pain in his gut as he saw the Grineer open fire on the pods. With his digital HUD helmet system, he saw the life systems being damaged. Rhino took notice of this and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before continuing to walk away.

However, just before the cryopods were about to be destroyed, a heavy gust of wind nearly pushed the Grineer, as well as the fleeing Tenno to the ground. Following the sheer force of the blast came a cold chill that made even Rhino shiver, despite being within his heavily-armored suit.

Before long, a large blizzard that seemed to form a dome appeared around the cryopods and the Tenno themselves. Outside, the Grineer took a frightened step back as they felt icicles and frozen blocks pelting at them whenever they got close. Within the dome, Nezha couldn't help but but swear in awe under his breath as he looked up to see a Tenno who, until then was considered to be a loner who didn't show any signs of greatness. Either his powers came late or he just was humble. Either way, it didn't stop the team from staring at the helmet of the Tenno known only as Frost.

~(o)~

_[In The Liset just a few... hundred miles from Earth]_

Unfortunately, for our unlikely hero, Phil was once again staring at the angry end of a highly unsatisfied stranger...

"The only reason, I'm even THINKING of giving you my merchandise is because I kinda need the money." Darvo didn't have enough vocal strength left to fully chew Phil out, so that would have to wait.

Shrugging off his anger, he made quick to install an extra console within the team's Lisets. He explained that these were just like online shopping, except without the shipping tax, which was a big plus. Finally, the Tenno squad had weapons and Darvo had his gullible customers. Things were definitely looking up for them.

"Finally..." Excalibur breathed, holding up a brand new Ether Sword within his own Liset. "Thought I could only summon it. How'd you get this?"

"Trust me," the holographic Darvo interrupted, "You don't wanna know. Point is it's yours." He turned his head slightly down and muttered muttered, "No exchanges or refunds."

"What?" Exaclibur asked, lowering the weapon.

"Eh?" the dealer retorted innocently.

In her own Liset, Mag started shopping through Darvo's collection. Her eyes fell onto a nicely detailed Magnus pistol. She gasped at the sight of it because it's always been known for its power and accuracy, something she always looked for in sidearms. Up till that time, she's been less than eager to take on missions. However, seeing that she was a bit short on credits, Mag now had a reason to farm.

Nearly slamming her fist onto the communication console, she aired the frequency to all three ships.

"We're gonna take another mission!" She exclaimed. Before anyone had even the chance to object, she made sure they didn't, "And you WILL like it!"

All five of the men seemed frozen in fear by Mag's sudden outburst. Lotus' hologram appeared onto Phil's console.

"I like her attitude." She said with the estranged smile of hers, "She may even get to be like me someday."

The last sentence made Phil shiver a bit. One version of Lotus was enough, but the usually strong-minded Mag being the same way? That was scary even as a thought.

~(o)~

Barely able to keep his cool, Nezha ran over to their rescuer who had just lowered down next to one of the cryopods.

"Oh man, oh man," he gasped, "thank you... like, so much!"

Frost turned his head, still concentrating on the power of the snow globe. "Wait, what? Uh, no problem. Just get rid of these guys first, 'kay?"

"Right!" Nezha agreed wholeheartedly. He immediately pulled the flaming disk latched onto his back and started to throw it hard at the Grineer ahead, seeing the ring fly in and out of Frost's shielded dome.

At the same time, Ash turned around when he saw the blizzard blocking his way. Seeing how Frost could make a pretty powerful ally as well as meal ticket, he turned his charm to full blast.

"Hey... Iceman," the ninja said with a smug grin and wink, "you look like you could really hold your own. Trust me, I know what it's like to have t carry an entire team."

"Ash." Frost said unwaveringly. "Nice to see you again." He then clenched his fists both to focus on the blizzard as well as in irritation. "Weren't you just leaving?"

"Leaving?" Ash questioned amusingly, "Just had to out-flank all those Grineer. I happen to be a man of strategy and finesse. We have quite a lot in common, Frosty."

"Hmph." Under his helmet, Frost rolled his eyes. "Time to go."

Stretching one arm forward while the other clenched a fist at his side, a light blue aura surged into his outreaching hand and another heavy gust of wind swept the area. All around, the ice in the snow globe began to break apart and was now forming back together in a pointed wall facing the remaining enemies. The powerful Tenno then pushed his other arm forward to meet the first and the wall of ice slid forward. All Grineer in the path were instantly frozen solid and then shattered under the weight.

Ash's eyes widened and soon narrowed slyly as he turned to his cool comrade.

"Hey there, chummy chum, 'ol friend pal." He playfully elbowed Frost in the shoulder, causing him to lean forward a bit. "I'm offering you to join our little troupe. Generous, I know, but I think YOU have what it takes."

Frost looked back at Ash and then to his team. "I don't want a part in any troupe." He walked to the cryopods to make sure the Tenno asleep within were okay. He then started to walk away to his awaiting Liset which hovered nearby.

"Hey!" Ash barked angrily before chuckling to calm down. He strutted over to Frost and stood in front of him to block the way. "This team of ours is by invitation ONLY, ya got that? Join the winning side, Ace."

"Winning side?..." Frost wondered, starting to lose his temper. He grabbed Ash with one hand on his shoulder and slammed him into the side of one of the cryopods. "Look in the pod, who's in there?"

"Vauban." Ash grunted, trying uselessly to push against Frost's strength. "What does it matter anyway? They're safe now-"

"Because I happened to be passing by." Frost let go of Ash abruptly which caused him to stumble forward slightly. "You were ready to leave them here to die."

When he had regained his footing, Ash brushed off imaginary dust from his suit as if Frost's hands were tainted.

"Good thing you were here then," he snarled. Turning from Frost to face Rhino and Nezha, Ash started to walk back to his own Liset. "Let's go, gang. I heard Mercury has good stuff."

Shrugging, Rhino also turned to leave with his team captain. Nezha reluctantly moved along too before quickly turning back to talk to Frost.

"I just gotta say, thanks, you were great."He complimented.

Frost gave him a brotherly tap on the shoulder. "Likewise. Take care of yourself."

Nezha nodded and went back to meet up with his group.

~(o)~

_[5 minutes later]_

After seeing the other three Lisets leave, Frost was just about to enter his own before something dawned on him.

With a sense of urgency, he went back to where the cryopods were lying. He confirmed what he saw as only two, but the Tenno within each belonged to a group of three. One of the cryopods had gone missing. He then ran beyond to see if there were any signs of the missing pod. He only stopped when nearly kicking a large, blue and white piece of metal which resembled a small wing.

With a forced breath of anxiety and dread, he recognized the details of the piece as part of Tenno armor. Personally knowing the owner, he was thinking of different situations that could have happened. Within the other two cryopods lied Vauban and Limbo. So, taking the piece of armor with him, Frost set off to look for the missing Tenno.

"Don't worry, Valkyr," he told himself, starting the Liset's engines, "I'll find you... I promise."


	13. Last Resort (Grustrag Three: Part 1)

_[2 Weeks Later at Grineer Headquarters (Earth)]_

A Grineer who was rather thin, yet heavily armored trudged into a large control room. All around, the cloned soldiers were hard at work mashing random buttons, toying with stupid dials and switching on all sorts of blinking lights. Standing pompously at the centre of it all stood a towering Grineer who apparently enjoyed wearing all black armor.

"Councilor..." the first Grineer said respectively, really not wanting to be the bearer of terrible news.

The taller one turned to see his subordinate who looked up at his face as his eyes widened suddenly.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Ruk?" the councilor asked, already knowing the reason.

"Well, to be honest, you really are fugly." The Grineer replied bluntly despite his intentions to lie. "What happened to your mask?"

The councilor irritably rolled his eyes. "I could never get over the side effect the cloning had on you." He said solemnly before sighing. "Do you have anything to report?"

As Sargas Ruk looked around nervously, he saw that the other personnel had stopped what they were doing and now focused their attention on him... not like they were doing much of anything anyway. However, the silence was unbearable and somewhere, the clack of a pen dropping could be heard.

"Well, do you have any knowledge about... the Tenno?" he wondered, trying to soften the blow as much as possible.

Vey Hek's look went from disgruntled to downright displeased. The corners of his mouth folded into a slightly lower frown. "Yes..."

Ruk chuckled as he went through the explanation in his head. It was not good news.

"Well," he hesitated, "they... sorta... sided with the Corpus."

"How so?" Vey Hek asked, becoming more and more agitated.

"The few foot soldiers who survived had reported that, on several battlegrounds, a team of five Tenno had fought and won for the Corpus. We lost quite a bit of property."

To help confirm his point, he reached into his fanny pack and brought out a remote. Once a button was pressed, a holographic image appeared in the middle of the room. It must have been something new because some Grineer who were still watching took a step back in shock. When the video had loaded, live footage showed Phil and the others taking on massive hordes and then posing for the security camera while on a mountain of dead and unconscious enemies.

"They are under the tutelage of the Lotus." Ruk added. "Their moves are just too fantastic."

"There is yet another route to take." The councilor offered calmly.

"Oh yeah?" Sargas Ruk challenged sourly, "Like what?"

Vey Hek narrowed his eyes, knowing this was nothing short of a last resort. "The Grustrag Three."

Sargas Ruk's smug look turned sour and appeared as though all the hope in the galaxy had been washed down a black hole into oblivion. All Grineer knew of the Grustrag Three, not because they were Grineer themselves, but for the reason of how unstable they were.

~(o)~

_[Graduation Day, 2nd Battalion Grineer Troop Transport]_

"Weare approaching ground zero. All units prepare to drop." The intercom then gave a static noise as it was switched off.

More then a dozen battle-ready Grineer sat patiently, awaiting their chance to lay waste upon the last remaining Tenno in existence. While most were tending to their weapons, checking and rechecking the mechanism, others were simply eager to get the fighting started. Some more than others.

_Tabook... Tabook... _"Tabook!"

The barking of his superior jolted a particular Grineer as his name was called. As fellow foot soldiers looked at him questioningly, he would shoot a glare back that would make them lower their gaze. However, the higher ranking commander was speaking and couldn't give two craps how his subordinate looked at him.

"I don't know what's wrong with you today, Vem," he started, "but spacing out will only get ya killed faster and I wanna keep the death ratio two Tenno to one of us!"

Looking down and nodding silently, Tabook grit his teeth in raging anger as he saw the commander's heavy boots move past his line of sight. The bothersome thing that irritated him more than his superior was that he did not recall why he was suddenly so angered.

Nearing the Tenno university, the transport pilot lowered the craft a far ways from the actual site to provide cover. Within, the Grineer commander took up his combat gear and addressed the crew for the unloading. He lowered a plated mask over his face which seemed to resemble a smiley face despite his ever-pissed attitude.

"Alright!" the commander snapped, "I want a clean file line to the battlefront and back again!"

He then turned to Vem Tabook. "Vem, you and your team go first! Get outta here!"

Expecting him and his other two comrades to jump up and be gone, the large commander clenched his fists in anger at the blatant insubordination. What surprised him even more was the complaint he had to say.

"W-w-we're not close enough." Vem stuttered, slightly shaking, but not looking up.

"Excuse me, Porky?" the commander asked, mockingly. "Not close enough?"

A second soldier agreed with Tabook. "We will not get there in time."

Frustrated, the Grineer commander turned to face the new opinion. "And what's wrong with here, Shrik Tal?"

Finally, the third member of the squad, a soldier named Leekter, chimed in as well. "We are running out of patience for the killing..."

Giving a scornful snort, the commander calmly clutched the handle of his Grataka. With a forceful tug, he yanked the rifle from its back holster and swung it hard at Vems helmet.

With speed and accuracy rarely seen in Grineer, Vem Tabook's hand shot forward and grabbed the Grataka by the nozzle without so much as flinching or looking up. After the commander tried pulling the rifle back to no avail, only then did he raise his head. When met with the light of day, his eyes gave an evil, almost soulless, glint accompanied by pupils that were small black points of crazed rage.

A wicked smile slithered across his face. "... And I think it just ran out." He said to finish Leekter's sentence.

Whipping his head down, Vem's protective face mask slid down and locked securely into place. At the same time, his other two squad members sprang from their seats. Gripping tightly to the handle of his monstrous Manticore axe, Leekter towered above other Grineer too surprised to move. In a sudden swing of the arm, he tore the axe through the heads of two soldiers unfortunate enough to have sat next to him.

As the commander turned to see the rampage, Vem took the opportunity to raise his modified Hek rifle and unload ten electric-charged rounds into his once superior officer. The commander then stumbled backward and fell onto the lap of Shrik Tal.

"Get off me..." Tal scolded, kicking the deceased corpse off. The stout Grineer then stood up with a forced grunt and cracked his back. Looking down the rest of the transport hold, he saw his fellow Grineer desperately trying to get free of their seating restraints.

"Hehe... where you all goin'?" was all Shrik Tal asked before hip-firing a rocket straight at the back from his Marelok launcher. The back of the transport exploded in an inferno that either killed the other soldiers instantly or set them on fire as they let out agonizing screams.

"Shit..." he breathed, impressed with the explosive payload dealt, "Didn't expect that."

"Really," Tabook suggested, "you should patent that."

_Clackity-clackit-clackit_

The three Grineer looked down to see a small grenade roll in between them. By the time they turned around to see the transport pilot back away, the flashbang went off and they became too disoriented to know what was going on. It was unclear whether the intense brightness got to them, or the high adrenalin made them susceptible, but after being in a severe daze, each one of them fell unconscious onto the floor. After a while, the pilot had managed to restrain their bodies until reinforcements had arrived to pick them up.

~(o)~

"... and ever since then, they've been imprisoned in the Grustrag Institute..." Sargas Ruk explained in a scary voice. "... for the remainder of their LIVES."

Vey Hek sighed in annoyance. "Ruk, I know all about the Three, it's kind of the reason why I want them."

"Why?" he wondered. "They're pretty messed in the head."

"No," the councilor explained, "they have rage. Rage to be molded and focused onto the Tenno, Dr. Tengus himself had noted this to be possible."

"THE Dr. Tengus?" Ruk wanted to clarify, "He's psychotic and that's by my standards, which says A LOT."

"Does not matter. He has already trained them... and they are battle-ready."

Vey Hek motioned for Ruk to follow while he started down into the hall toward the prison ward. As both left the room, the hologram fizzed and deactivated.


	14. NOTICE

**IMPORTANT NOTICE**

**Unfortunately, I can never seem to get past a few chapters when it comes to writing. **

**However, people did seem to like it. So whoever is wanting and willing, feel free to continue and**

**claim the story as your own. If you do so, let me know, I do want to know what happens. **

**And yes. It is the result of laziness, not gonna deny it. But I've now come to see it from a differing view... (drumroll...)**

* * *

**(o) SUPER PROMPTS (o)**

**It's simple. For those who want to write something, but nothing comes to mind. My super prompts are unfinished stories with**

**beginning chapters that set the tone, setting, and summary that you get to finish as expand as your own later! Kinda like**

**a Make-Your-Adventure story, only with more reliance on you.**

**Stories that are ready to be edited will have the super special, but oh-so-stylish sign (o)**

**If you want to use a story to finish, let me know using the comments, I will mark it '(RESERVED)' once claimed.**

**The rest is completely up to you, writer!**


End file.
